We celebrate World Migratory Bird Day

Today, 9 May, we celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) – a global campaign dedicated to raising awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation for their conservation.

This year the theme of World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural cycles that are essential for the survival and well-being of migratory birds. The theme also underlines the fact that migratory birds are part of our shared natural heritage and they depend on a network of sites along their migration routes for breeding, feeding, resting and overwintering.

“Nature is carrying on as usual, the cycles and rhythms of nature, including those of migratory birds, continue on their normal course,” said Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA). “Not only are they connecting us to other people, but they are also reminding us that this crisis also provides an opportunity – an opportunity for humankind to revisit our relationship with nature and to rebuild a more environmentally responsible world.”

Unfortunately, we celebrate this day only a few hours after we found out that the only colony of a Cormorant on North Black Sea coast was destroyed after the trees on which their nests were located were illegally cut down. This nesting colony was located on the shores of Durankulak Lake, which is one of the key sites for the Red-breasted Goose. The flyway of this important species connects Europe and Asia with their migration every year from the Arctic tundra almost to the Mediterranean of Southeast Europe. Durankulak, like many other key sites for migratory bird species are threatened with extinction and economic exploitation, and if social isolation helps places to recover nature from human impact, scientists around the world warn that only nature conservation and its integrity can protect us from future pandemics.